Revealed: Plans for new Saltford railway station

People living in Saltford have been giving their views on whether or not they think the village railway station should be reopened.

At a consultation event, run by Bath and North East Somerset Council, dozens of villagers turned out to hear the proposals.

According to Halcrow, the consultancy firm employed by the authority to look at the scheme, a new station would cost £4 million and could include two platforms, as well as a car park for up to 150 cars.

Project leaders have favoured the site of the original railway station on Bath Road, which closed in 1970. A second site, near to Chelwood Road, has been dismissed because of the cost.

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If built, the new railway station would be part of phase two of the MetroWest project - a regional scheme to increase rail lines and services.

A new station would offer two trains per hour in each direction.

Mum-of-one Lauren Metcalfe, 27, said she supported the project but had concerns.

“I’m just worried about the noise and congestion. The A4 is so bad anyway this might bring more cars to Saltford.”

Paul Kendall, 54, who lives on Uplands Road, said he was concerned about parking.

“In principle I support the idea of the station reopening but on the proviso we don’t have hoards of cars parking in residential roads.”

Retired Russell Abel, 64, suggested the station should be moved from Bath Road.

“It’s very narrow by there. Moving it away from the A4 I think could be safer.”

Leader of the Saltford Station campaign group, Chris Warren, said there was huge support for the scheme.

“We want the railway station reopened for the future benefit of the residents. In 2011 we got 2,000 signatures in support of the station.”

It is estimated a new station could see 647 journeys a day and generate £770,000 a year but would cost £60,000 a year in maintenance.

Results from the consultation on Tuesday will be added to a report being written for B&NES Council. As part of the MetroWest deal the authority would have to provide financial support for the first three years if the station went ahead.

14 comments

Disabled people often need assistance from a member of staff-a wheelchair user will need a ramp to be able to get on and off the train, for example, so I hope that the station will be fully accessible and staffed.

Unlike the 'old days' when many railway carriages spent perhaps 75% of their life sat in sidings just waiting for peak time use, the modern Train Operating Companies simply will not do that. They can not afford to provide extra carriages that will only generate income during limited peak hours, but will incur maintenance costs all the time regardless of how few passenegers they will be carrying the rest of the day.

With regard to *Cattle Truck* conditions, this can be easily resolved by adding extra carriages, some people concentrate far too much on pessimistic evaluations rather than think with common sense.
Parking issues may be eliminated with building of multi-storey car parks.
It would greatly benefit Saltford to have usage of a railway station to alleviate the A4 traffic congestion, ease of travel/commute to other cities and in turn increase the property value.
With the empty surrounding area, houses can be built to accommodate the exponentially rising population; those may argue *Green-Belt* but due to necessity the designated areas can be amended.
It is good to see B&NES Council have at least one good idea out of the hundreds of thoughtless mistakes.

I hope that the plans are for a completely accessible station for disabled people, with adequate disabled parking, properly laid out very close by.This could help those from Keynsham who cannot manage at Keynsham Station.